Business today- December 5, 2001

Screen saver program contains virus

WASHINGTON  Anti-virus companies scrambled to protect their customers against a new viruslike e-mail attack Tuesday that purports to be a computer screen saver program.

Security company McAfee reported thousands of its clients sent in copies of the worm, called "Goner." An Internet worm has the ability to spread to other computers on its own.

"It's very harmless looking," McAfee virus research manager April Goostree said. The e-mail has a subject line of "Hi," and asks the user to check a screen saver program, which is attached.

If the recipient runs the screen saver, the computer becomes infected. Like many e-mail attacks, it sends itself out to everyone in the victim's address book. It can also send itself through the instant messaging program ICQ.

Computer experts advise that people not open unexpected e-mail attachments, even if the sender is someone familiar.

Sprint PCS expects fourth-quarter gain

KANSAS CITY, Mo.  Sprint PCS, the wireless communications division of Sprint Corp., and whose largest partner  Alamosa PCS  is located in Lubbock, said Tuesday it projects fourth quarter revenues near $2.8 billion and sales for 2002 of about $13 billion.

The figures, fueled by an increase in subscribers, would represent 40 percent and 30 percent increases, respectively, over the comparable year-ago periods, the company said.

Also Tuesday, Sprint announced that its fledgling data business, E:Solutions, has won a major contract with eBay to handle a portion of the online auction giant's Internet traffic.

However, Sprint FON Group, which includes Sprint Corp.'s local and long-distance phone service, said Tuesday its projected fourth quarter earnings would fall below earlier forecasts.

At its annual investment community meeting, the Kansas City, Mo.-based company said revenue growth at the PCS unit "is expected to continue to be driven by strong gains in the customer base and strong average customer revenue."

This year, Sprint expects 4.2 million net customer additions in its PCS Group, compared with 3.8 million in 2000.